Academic Progress Rate

(The NCAA is expected to announce scores for the 2010-11 season next month.)

San Diego State plays USC in men’s basketball next season, and USD, CSU, BSU and UNM.

But an equally formidable three-letter opponent in coming years may be something else: APR.

It stands for Academic Progress Rate, and it is one of those numbers churned out by the NCAA each spring that was regularly greeted with a shrug and a scratch of the head. Few understood it, and few cared to. Or had to.

Then the NCAA, with the muscle of the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, put some teeth into APR, enough that one of the nation’s most storied college basketball programs is banned from the Big East and NCAA tournaments next season. UConn enlisted the help of several Congressmen in its appeal for a waiver; the NCAA refused to budge. The 2011 national champs are out.

“If a coach says he’s not concerned about (APR),” SDSU’s Steve Fisher said recently, “he’s probably not being truthful. Everybody is aware.”

The Aztecs have never been afoul of APR in men’s basketball in its current form and are eligible for the 2012 postseason. But the minimum levels are quickly rising, and many schools – SDSU included – may find themselves filling sandbags.

What that means to coaches: Be careful who you recruit, no matter how talented, because an ill-timed academic casualty could sink you.

What that means to fans: Your team might not take that five-star center with a shaky academic record.

In other words, Norvel Pelle.

The 6-foot-11 post from Compton was rated the nation’s top center in the high school class of 2011 and No. 23 prospect overall by Rivals.com, and he initially signed a letter of intent with St. John’s. The NCAA Clearinghouse never approved him academically and Pelle ultimately de-committed, spending the year bouncing from prep academy to prep academy. At last check he was reportedly taking online classes while continuing to seek academic clearance from the NCAA.

Pelle has expressed interest in SDSU, attended games at Viejas Arena and even made an unofficial visit to campus. And the Aztecs recently gained another scholarship for next season and could use another big body inside.

An undeniable talent. An unmitigated risk.

NCAA rules preclude Fisher from speaking about specific recruits, but he did discuss APR and recruiting in general terms during a wide-ranging interview earlier this spring.

“It absolutely impacts recruiting nationwide,” Fisher said. “That is now something else that has to go into the equation when you recruit, without a shadow of a doubt.”

The official definition of APR by the NCAA is a “term by term measure of eligibility and retention for Division I student-athletes that was developed as an early indicator of eventual graduation rates.”

The formula works like this: Each scholarship athlete can accumulate two points per semester, one for staying in school and one being academically eligible. You divide your actual points by total available points, then multiply by 1,000. A 925 score theoretically is the equivalent of a 50-percent graduation rate.